WRESTLING NOTEBOOK: Owen J. Roberts trio makes medal sweep at states

Owen J. Roberts had a season of seconds and thirds – good seconds and thirds, that is – as in a second straight District 1-Class AAA Team Duals title and a third straight Pioneer Athletic Conference championship.

And if that wasn’t enough, the program came up with yet another first – three state medalists. And that was also another first for the PAC-10 being that no team had ever taken three or more qualifiers to the PIAA Championships and had each and every one of them return home with a medal.

It was indeed an up-and-down three days, or more like a follow-the-leader type three days, for Derek Gulotta (113 pounds), Colby Frank (126) and Gordon Bolig (182). All three won their openers, then dropped their quarterfinals, came back with wins in the second round of consolations, fell in the third round of consolations, and closed with losses in their seventh-place finals.

None were anywhere near satisfied with their finishes, but both Gulotta – also an eight-place finisher a year ago – and Frank will return next season to anchor what should be a power-packed lower half of the lineup for OJR and make yet another run at states. Bolig, who arguably was one of the most improved wrestlers in the entire area over the past two years and unquestionably one of the Wildcats’ leaders throughout their regular season and postseason quests, posted the most wins (47) of anyone in District 1 this winter. He’ll graduate with 127 career wins – the fourth-best mark in the OJR program.

Last week’s stay in Hershey was quite rewarding for Methacton’s Tracey Green, who made up for last year’s disheartening postseason – shortened due to an injury – by placing sixth at 285 pounds. Green owns a couple of interesting statistics, too. He won exactly 50 percent of his 38 bouts this season by pin, and has now won exactly 50 percent of his 98 career wins by pin.

Kriczky, a junior, put up 39 wins to push his career total to 97, and he did it in what was one of the league’s, district’s and state’s most challenging weight classes. McStravick, a three-time state qualifier and truly one of the area’s genuine gamers for four seasons, recorded 27 of his 46 wins by fall this season and capped his high school career with 74 pins and 152 wins – good for a share of ninth place on The Mercury’s all-time win chart.

Giangiulio, also a junior, picked up invaluable experience by reaching states, the first PV wrestler to do so in nine long years. He was a very respectable 36-4 and will likely become just the third Viking to reach 100 wins soon after next season gets under way. And McGuigan, who didn’t even get on the mat for a handful of bouts as a sophomore, came back to make as big as strides as anyone in the Spring-Ford program since. He won 73 of his 75 bouts the past two seasons, and 56 percent of them ended in pins.

*The PAC-10’s nine state qualifiers – which included Boyertown state runner-up Jordan Wood – equaled the league’s record when the Southeast Regional advanced only the top three in each weight class. Overall, it’s the seventh-best total, or half of the league’s entourage of 18 qualifiers in 2006 (when the regional’s top four moved on).

STATE NOTESALMOST: Milton state champion Ryan Solomon last week came close to matching Boyertown’s Mike Spaid’s postseason pin blitz back in 2004. Solomon got the slap on all nine of his postseason opponents going into states, where the string was snapped by a pair of 10-0 and 7-0 decisions. He did pin in the semifinals, and capped it with another 7-0 shutout in the final.

SPOTLESS: In Class AAA, only one-third of the undefeated wrestlers at states finished undefeated. The remaining six – including C.R. North’s John Dutrow (44-1 and third at 138 pounds), still medaled … In Class AA, there were 12 unbeatens in Thursday’s opening round, but only seven after Saturday night. Four others did medal, while one was eliminated early after going 1-2.

JUST DAPPER: Norristown state runner-up Zach Fuentes (181-36 career record) will be the Eagles’ first representative in the prestigious Dapper Dan Classic. It’ll be the fourth consecutive year District 1 has had a senior participate in the event, which began in 1975 and is often called the Rose Bowl of Wrestling because of matching up Pennsylvania’s best against the nation’s best. … The district’s first entries in the Dapper Dan were Hatboro-Horsham’s Dennis Merriam (126) and Phoenixville’s Jeff Below (138) in 1976, coached by Ralph Wetzel and Lonny Moore, respectively. Merriam pinned Arizona’s Alvaro Finn and Below came up short against Illinois’ Scott Trizzino in Pennsylvania’s 36-17 victory. … Twenty of last year’s 80 NCAA Championships medalists, including three champions and three runners-up, previously competed in the Dapper Dan Classic.